Hong Kong - 2

Never very good at being an 'early bird' tourist, I woke up at around 10am on my second day in Hong Kong. Since there's no time constraint, we decided to take the double decker tram. For a mere HKD2 regardless distance, it's definitely a must try experience. Cruising through the busy city on a nearly 130years old track in one of the individually colourful decorated (with advertisement) tram body, enjoying the breeze, feels very relax compare to taking MTR.

Ding-ding

I enjoyed the ding-ding ride very much, gives a very good view of HK's daily life while cruising through the busy streets. The only disadvantage is that there's no notification on which stop the tram stops, so it's all up to your own building recognition skill ;) Then again, the tram stops are very close to one another (hence the long tram ride) at about 250m interval. Missed one? no problem, just walk a bit.

What can be done when there's no customer? cutting vegetable, apparently :s

Stopped somewhere in central, good thing about HK, the streets are never too long or too difficult to find (unlike Macau) if you have a map. Walking the small steps up Pottinger street with small stalls on both sides and seeing a couple's pre-wedding photo shoot, makes me feel like I'm living the life of TVB drama series character's. 

Arriving at Tsui Wah, loud, bold, wildly popular and perhaps Hong Kong's busiest quick service chain restaurant to try its famous food and also blend into the local dining scene. Were there slightly before lunch, but the restaurant is already starting to fill up. Quick menu browsing, quick order, quick serving and I had a very nice bowl of rice noodle with special made fish ball & fish cake (潮州魚蛋片頭米粉), tasted their famous silky milk tea and the butter condensed milk toast bun (奶油豬仔包). 

It didn't take long before we were requested to share our small table with 2 more diners during peak lunch hour. It's interesting when one can totally understand the conversation of the other party yet behave like they absolutely didn't exist. I think it's a skill developed over long time of table sharing culture. Well, at least it's an efficient way of utilizing the restaurant's free seats and reducing patrons waiting time by sacrificing 'just a little' privacy ;) We then move on to our wonderful walking tour suggested by HK Tourism Board with a little adjustment.

a small park with little green, very art nouveau

Passing through the busy business district, we took the mid-level escalators up to Staunton Street and the SoHo district. Watch out for one of the MTR discount counter, simply scan your Octopus card and get a HKD2 instant rebate when you take your next MTR ride. The ride offers excellent view of buildings alongside and any time you wish, just jump off one of the side street to experience some local food stall or watch some local trade being carried out.

Central-Mid level escalator

Walking down Hollywood street and trying not to follow map (there's pink & blue signs almost every junction indicating next nearest tourist attraction) and let our legs take us where it wants to, we found some nice fleet of staircases, ultra 'slim' buildings and some exotic shops worth browsing.

Streets of HK (island side)

Funny boxers in G.O.D.

Eventually we reach the famous Man Mo Temple. Unfortunately, tonnes of other tourists also found the same spot so we skip the temple visit. It's just 'funny' to see an old temple tucked in among some of the tallest residential buildings in Hong Kong, amazing. 

Man Mo Temple

Taking a turn down from Man Mo Temple, reaching to Upper Lascar Row 摩罗街 (also called Cat Street, wonder why) which is famous for curio and antique shop, we found the one quiet street in Hong Kong. Perhaps it's not tourist peak season, or perhaps the hour is oddly afternoon, shops & stalls are operating but the street is rather empty, giving us sufficient space to slowly roam the streets and enjoy the little tranquil oasis in one of the worlds busiest city.

Continue walking downhill (see, that's why my walk is better than HK tourism board's suggestion because instead of going up hill, our route is towards downhill, same scenery, half the energy ;), we reached the Western Market, an Edwardian style building which is originally the waterfront harbour office, now a historical monument with themes shops.

Western Market

Nothing much inside, lots of cloth, I mean raw cloth shops, souvenir shops, antique shops, a restaurant occupying a whole 3rd floor and then I spotted this Honeymoon Dessert shop which is on my 'to-try' list. Taking a foot rest in the famous chained dessert shop, we ordered a mango pancake and 杨枝金露 (a uniquely Hong Kong dessert with mango, pomelo, sago, coconut milk etc), delicious. I later found out that apparently their durian dessert is even more famous, sigh...next time, next time.

Honeymoon dessert

We then took the tram to go back to mid-Central district again. Honestly, it's not that far but I just can't miss the tram rides :). Busy busy busy, tall buildings, historical looking buildings, none stop traffic and then we found the only four gas street lamps remaining in Hong Kong

HK streets

Duddell street steps and gas lamp

If you watch Hong Kong TVB drama series, or maybe even some Hong Kong movies, it's not hard to find yourself familiar with the famous Duddell street steps. At least in my memory, almost half of the drama series that involved couples getting back together (or breaking up) happens here. Lovely steps, except it's also adjacent to truck loading / unloading on Ice House street, so...

Feeling tired, we took the tram (again, yes) to our hotel, take a few hours nap and then depart later in the evening for a great dinner in YungKee (see next blog for it). Right next to Wellington street where YungKee is located, is 'night-owl's popular pub/clubbing area - Lan Kwai Fong. Recently, however, some 'night-owls' have moved on to SoHo area so LKF seems a bit deserted.

Lan Kwai Fong

Not much of a fan for clubbing, we walked down the central area. An area that is filled with people and traffic  during business hour is now only empty buildings (literally) and reasonable traffic on the road. Makes the area feels more 'approachable', at least that's what I think.

And then I made a mistake by walking into Sasa looking for nail polisher remover. I'm totally impressed with the selling skill of Hong Kong sales person. I only wanted 1 item but ended up buying nail polisher, facial masks, and hand lotions on top of what I originally wanted (luckily I still remember what I wanted, haha).

So, here's second day in Hong Kong, more to come...slowly...

Hong Kong - 1

Arriving in Hong Kong an hour earlier than scheduled at 6.15am, hop into a taxi (too much luggage, don't want to hassle) and arrived at Hotel Metro Park at around 7.30am. I cannot believe my luck when the kind gentlemen at check in counter checked that the room is ready & checked us in without even any request from us. What a great extended hospitality. In Tokyo, we would have been told to leave the luggage and come back at 2pm, happened before (and we were only 2 hours earlier than 2pm check in time) :s

view from hotel room

Having a room means having a chance to catch some sleep to rejuvenate our very tired body, which is great! After nearly 6 hours of sleep, waking up afresh, we set off to explore Hong Kong. First stop: food, so Yee Shun Dairy Company it is. My travel itinerary includes a day-to-day dining plan as well with thorough background check. This particular Yee Shun at Jordan has been consistently receiving good review in Open Rice, no rude waiter and no bad food for weeks around our traveling date ;)

Ordered the famous double-boiled milk (hot), egg & cheese sandwich, pork chop noodle & a double-boiled milk with coffee (hot).

Yee Shun Dairy Company, Jordan branch

Delicious food & dessert at YeeShun, love the double-boiled milk

Reservoir of desserts

Time to walk around and absorb in some vibrant energy of the bustling city, what better than visiting Mong Kok with it's many themed streets of night markets?

Mong Kok street view

Street food stall in MongKok

Passing through the many funny name streets - Soy Street, Tong Choi Street etc and proceeding to Nathan Road with lots of jewellery shop & medicine shop. Dried duck kidney for sale, anyone?

Traditional medicine shop

After the hustle bustle of street markets, next stop is the Light of Symphony on both banks of Victoria Harbour. Being on the Kowloon side, naturally, the Star Avenue is the chosen location for the light show. Personally, I think Hong Kong is much prettier at night illuminated by thousand lights than day time (too much pollution, always 'foggy'). The light show? well, if it'll take you more than 10minutes to wait for it, don't. It turned out to be a bit disappointing.

Victoria harbour view from TsimTsaTsui

Starving & failing to find any known artist on the Star Avenue walkway to take picture with, we decided to proceed to dinner. The promenade along the harbour in front of the Harbour City shopping mall is great to hang around though. Plenty of couple taking advantage of the great city night landscape view walking hand-in-hand there.

Dinner was a slightly pricy dissapointment in Harbour City's Teochew restaurant, so let's skip it. Stopped by 7-11 before going back to hotel to pick up some drinks (hotel drinks are charged at Danish price, slightly more expensive even, and not so much selection). End of report of day1, looking forward to subsequent days of the trip :D

Souvenirs (food) and some drinks from 7-11

Hong Kong - Onroute

Finally, my 3 weeks home trip with a detour to Hong Kong is happening after 6 months purchasing the ticket. I have to say that the early purchase made me look forward to the trip too long, almost feel like it'll never happen, won't do that again. Best way to stop in HK without spending too much extra (on ticket) is to take Cathay Pacific, only need to pay the airport tax for a stop over.

My route: Copenhagen -> London -> HK -> Penang -> HK -> London -> Copenhagen. A lot of 'in the air' hours, sob sob...a small price to pay. I have to praise Cathay Pacific. I flew with them once about 5 years ago, they were good; now, they're still good, in fact, I think better than before with the new seats - adjustable cushion and head rest but the seat 'shell' is fixed so you won't have inconsiderate front passenger leaning the seat all the way back, leaving you dying in fear of confined space watching tilted TV screen. 

Lots of entertainment on plane, new movies - Salt, Inception, Despicable Man etc; strings of TV series (I learnt how to cook baked pork chop rice); haven't even have time to explore the movie collections. And mind you, I was awake for 10 fully entertained hours on the flight because I can't fall asleep, so kudos. Food is good, strangely though, Western food are better than Asian food. Could it be due to the fact that food are prepared by their European kitchen? great sandwiches & salad but very bland pork congee (still regret not having their wonderful frittata).

Air hostess are attending, slightly lack of smile but I stop asking for friendly face since I started traveling within Europe. Smile is free but only mine, European air hostess smiles are a bit more on the rare side. There was once I press the 'attention' button but never get a respond from air hostess, can't remember which airline but European for sure, total negligence. 

So if you have to fly long haul & happen to be in the Cathay Pacific coverage, I'd recommend you to take it. Price is reasonable & gives you a good overall package (good food, comfy seats, good entertainment in case you can't fall asleep, and attending air hostess). Their business class provides fully rest position seats, with foot rest. Wonder how first class looks like? someday, maybe ;)

Momofuku

Momofuku, the new 'hip' name in the culinary business in New York has swept me off my feet when I first tried their Octo Vinaigrette Fried Chicken, which subsequently triggers me to find out more about Chang and his restaurants and to realize how amazing / experimental a cook he is. Seeing my interest, Mr.T secretly bought me a Momofuku cook book to surprise me. I certainly hope it's not an indication that I shall cook more Momofuku food for him, it'll kill me, if you know Momofuku ;)

Anyway, here's the book: simple wood imitate cover with the lucky peach (in japanese: momofuku).

Just as David Chang himself , who's selling all sorts of funny food you can't imagine in his noodle bar and yet manage to win well reputed award and the hearts of New Yorker (and more), the book is nothing like any ordinary cook book. Or shall I say, it's not just a cook book. It's a biography about Chang and also a story telling book that explains in length histories behind each recipes and it also encourages creativity in cooking, explaining that sticking to the norm is not bad, but it can be changed for better.

I've never seen F**k word in a cook book before but this one has it. Does that make the book bad? NO, hell, no...not at all. To me, it's a multi-functional book, read it as you please like any other books that you have and use it as you wish, just like any other cook books that you have. If you're looking for that one cook book that'll blow your mind, get one of this. I'm loving it, so much. Thank you, Mr.T :D

H.C.Andersen

Now, we're not talking about the famous Danish fairy tale author, but a bakery that's named after him, H.C.Andersen Confectionery. I mentioned this bakery before in an old blog, and never able to forget the goodness of this special bakery. It specializes in cakes, pastries, and also sandwich. It is so good that the royal wedding cakes only comes from this bakery.

New facade

Recently, the bakery moved to a new address and has went through a new face lift. I've been waiting and waiting for it to re-open and the day finally comes on 15-Oct. It was a purely out of the habit to check on the bakery's renovation progress and to my surprise, it's opened, hooray!!!

New cake ordering counter

Sandwich / pastry counter

The new shop is much smaller in seating capacity but feels a grade higher than the old cramp area. Well lit, warm welcome and clear product display, the only thing that's missing is price tag (maybe it'll come later?). Love the new chairs & the pairing cushion / pillow, so cosy that I feel at home. Anyway, ordered an all time favourite - Othello cake (oh...they do it best) and was given free latte for the new opening :D

Nice comfy seating

The Othello cake is slightly different from the ones before. The top layer of marzipan is replaced with chocolate frosting, taste a bit different but not bad at all, but maybe that's why the cake is softer than it used to be and crumble when the cashier cut a slice. For that, I get 2 free mini éclairs, yum ;)

'Scrambled' othello cake

Free but high quality latte

Free mini eclairs

Dining section

Less seating capacity which will be one of my regret because the old one with bigger capacity is usually full house, from the logical perspective, at some point I will find myself no vacant seat when I visit. The bakery is right behind the cake counter, not sure what exactly is being baked, maybe just some simple breads / pastries but it definitely is a sign of quality assurance when the product comes directly from 'manufacturer' to the counter ;)

Bakery right behind the cake counter

There seems to be more changes to the old ones that I haven't noticed yet but I'm just glad that whenever I crave for a piece of good cake, I know where I can go to.

Mr.T Scallion Pancake

For a long time, I've always read about the tastiness of scallion (American way of saying spring onion) pancake but never actually tried it before. It's probably a very common staple food in China but not in Malaysia ;)

So finally on a lazy Sunday afternoon where there're no chore calls or need/desire to go out, I looked up the recipe and tried it out. Well, er...in the process of making the pancake, it is 'unfortunate' to discover that I'm not that good with dough mixing and being gentle with rolling pin so Mr.T with his 'feminine' hands took over and made the dough plus all the rolling.

Mr.T in action

Rolled up the side of pancake

Ready to be pan fried pancake

Well, I had to take part in the pancake making so I did the pan fried part but was actually clueless if it's cooked or not. Nevertheless, judging from the gradually translucent texture and then golden brown pancake surface, I take it as a ready sign :)

Here's the recipe if you want to give it a try (and please tell me if it's my fault that it's dry):-

2 cups flour

3/4 cups luke warm water

6 tsp sesame oil (or mix with ordinary cooking oil)

1 tbsp salt

2 bunch of spring onions chopped

1. Put flour in a mixing bowl, gradually add in the water and mix well. add a bit flour if it's too wet; or some       

    water if it's too dry; bottom line is it should not be too sticky. Let it rest for 15minutes. 

2. In the mean time, chop the spring onion and set aside.

3. Take the rested dough and form a roll. Cut into 6 pieces of equal size and roll the pieces into balls.

4. Place a ball of dough on a lightly floured work surface and roll into a thin circle, as thin as you can get.

5. Spread 1tsp of oil over the dough, sprinkle a good pinch of salt (you'll need it) all around the dough and 1/6 portion of chopped spring onion on top.

6. Roll the pancake up from the end (shown in Mr.T's picture), then curl the roll around in a spiral and pinch the end of the roll to 'seal' it.

7. With your palm, press the roll from the top to flatten it then roll the pancake out to 1/8 inch thickness.

8. Heat a tablespoon of oil on pan over medium heat. Set the pancake in oil & fry till bottom is crisp & golden. Then flip the pancake, add more oil if needed. Remove from heat when both sides are golden brown.

Scallion pancake in pan

Final product

The taste? I'm actually slightly disappointed over the slight dryness of the texture. Maybe my recipe / method was wrong or maybe I didn't cook them well enough but I imagine it to be something much nicer. Anyway, it was a fun Sunday afternoon with lots of dishes to clean afterwards :s

Crispy Chinese Salt & Pepper Tofu

I love tofu, whether it's steam, braised, stewed, in soup, stuff with fillings, fried or even fermented. Every now and then when I shop in the Asian shop, I just can't resist to buy a block of tofu; firm for frying / braising; soft for sukiyaki. Anyway, I bought one of this tetra pack tofu block for quite some time and finally find a new recipe to try it out: crispy chinese salt & pepper tofu.

Here's the recipe to share: Crispy Chinese Salt and Pepper Tofu

Serves 4 (Cooking time: 40 minutes)

For the tofu:
1 lb firm tofu, drained
1 tablespoons dry sherry or rice wine
2 teaspoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons corn starch
3-4 tablespoons of peanut oil for frying

For the stir-fry:
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 big clove of garlic, finely minced
¼ inch cube ginger, peeled and minced
1/4 teaspoon or to taste red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 spring onion, thinly sliced

Slice tofu into ½ thick slices and layer between sheets of kitchen towels. Lay on a cutting board and weigh it down with any heavy items on top to drain the water for about 20 minutes. When ready, gently separate tofu from towels and cut into ½ inch cubes.

In a medium bowl combine rice wine and soy sauce. Add cubed tofu and toss to combine. Set tofu aside for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Careful not to break the tofu cubes.

When ready to fry tofu, heat peanut oil over medium-high in a large, heavy skillet or wok. Sift cornstarch into a shallow bowl. Drain tofu from marinade, shake off any excess liquid and roll tofu into cornstarch. Lower tofu into oil and fry for 3-4 minutes each side until all sides are golden coloured. I use a deep fryer, so much easier. Remove goldened tofu from pan and placed on kitchen towel to absorb excess oil.

Pour 1 tablespoon peanut oil into skillet and heat to medium high. Add ginger & garlic, stirring quickly until sizzling and fragrant. Add red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt and tofu and fry for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Toss in the spring onion and quick stir for another 30 seconds, remove tofu dish from heat, and move to a serving platter.

If you're like me where you find eating tofu in Chinese restaurants in non-Asian countries disappointing, then you should definitely try this dish out at home. Most works lies on preparing the tofu but it's well worth the effort. And if you are lucky enough to have nice tofu dish vastly available to you, I'd still recommend you to try this out, I guarantee you there's no regret (probably some fuss on tofu preparation if you're new to cooking). 

All in all, a recipe that's worth keeping. I'll definitely do this again!